Either tomorrow or Tuesday I will be taking the FWB out of storage!!! I went to the DMV the other day and got her all road legal. I don't usually do any story telling on the forums but I thought I would for a change...

...Anyway I purchased it mid-August of last year from another member of this forum. Being as cheap as I am I thought it would be cool to take a Greyhound for the first time and only spend $70 getting to my destination... Rochester, NY to Kingsport, TN. I am the kind of person that will try everything at least once, that Greyhound experience was the one time for that!!! I must say though, it was a very interesting trip on that bus you see a lot of things... a lot of different places, a lot of very poor people surviving... moving from one place to another I made it an effort to talk to people... it was a classic experience.

I get to my destination, hop off the bus and look for the only thing I know to look for... the FWB. To my surprise the car was a completely different color that I thought it was... From the pictures I had at the time the car looked like a navy blue... in actuality it was that deep forest green color (dont know the name). And of course the owner was a very friendly fellow and we took her for a spin to the bank and then to the county clerk. I was ecstatic, I like the color better than what I thought it was... the car ran perfect, quiet, everything was awesome. Before I left from this town, Adam (previous owner) filled the tank to the brim with premium. what a guy!!!

Ok, now the journey begins! I had planned this trip out pretty good, but with no margin for error. From TN I was going to coastal NJ to visit my friends for a week, the trip was awesome, I felt like king of the road, I would roll up to gas stations to get drinks with my Ray-Ban aviators on, windows down, and blasting some Credence everyone was like "who the hell is that guy in the Caddy??" it was hilarious! The temperatures were very high, 100+ through Virginia... and what I really didn't like was that I did not have a temperature gauge and didn't know how to work the console ECU display at the time so I was just hoping for the best, and no lights came on.

Now this whole time I was reluctant to speed and never pushed the car... until I got into the Beltway region. People were flying!!!! So I was doing 85-90 and that was just staying with traffic! Then I met my first road competitor... it was a black guy in a newer taurus and some pretty fat rims. .. he got next to me, kinda stared me down and then he gunned it.... for a second I was like "ehh better not" but I really wanted to know what this thing could do and so I floored it. Ok now at this point I thought my '93 9C1 was quick for its size... not anymore!!! My cruising speed was about 65 and when I floored it that car got up to 107 so freakin fast... it didnt even feel like I was going that fast and then the governer kicked in and I got pissed because I didnt know the car had one. Needless to say I blew past my competition with ease and slightly more style:D. It was harmless competition and we (with discretion) played leap frog for about 20 miles.

From that point I decided to take it easy for the rest of the trip since I have had enough tickets in the past and even a "wreckless driving" charge in VA... for speeding. So I enter the state of NJ and I am about 30 minutes from my destination and then the car start sputtering and then dies so I roll off to the side of the turn-pike and try to restart it... nothing. Now I am pretty pissed and started brainstorming all the possible things that could have went wrong... the only thing I really considered was that it was out of gas even though the gauge indicated a couple bars left. To make matters worse there was no cell phone reception where I was, it was pitch black out... finally a trooper pulled up, ran my temp tags and asked me what was up. I asked him if he could send a help truck my way, he called one, I shook his hand and thanked him and then waited for the help truck. The help truck finally came, but it was not like the ones we have up here in NY it was some Sunoco van and I knew I was going to have to fork up some cash. In the end I got $5 worth of gas for $35... talk about highway robbery...heh heh.

So it turned out that it was just gas... and I was very happy and also pretty happy that the car made it from central Tennessee to coastal NJ on a single tank of gas!!! I think it came out to 25-26 mpg, the gauge must not like going through its full range without a reset. I got to my destination and enjoyed the week on the shore, did lots of fun stuff that college kids do and my friends wanted to go everywhere in the car, and so did I, it worked out pretty well.

So when my vacation came to end I headed back home to Rochester, it wasn't as fun as the first leg of the trip but the new set of wheels had my moral up! Got home safely with not a single problem and no tickets.

From that point I only drove the car for a few weeks and then put it in storage for the season when the temp tags expired. I got the car with 63k and it only has a little over 64k on it now so I really haven't driven it much at all since I got it. So you can see why I am so so excited to get it out. I love my 9C1 but it is so rusty that it has lost that tight, crisp feeling that clean cars have, plus its got the stripes on it still and I hate that type of attention but mechanically I have kept it perfect and it is a sort of sleeper since it looks so old and beat up but gets out of the way pretty damn well.

One of the perks of living in a wintery climate with snow and salt is that if you have a winter car you are very excited to get your summer car out and have deep appreciation for it. Also it keeps miles off the car and reduces the chances of damage to the vehicle. When I am in the Caprice I feel pretty fearless and dont mind beating up the car since it can certainly take it and I dont care if I bump into something with it or if it gets hit. With the FWB I drive it like its made of glass.

Unfortunately I have been so busy with school and everything else, that I have not been able to finish the '68 resto. It is so close to being done... all I have left to do is to fully restore the radiator core support and spray down the wheel wells and then I can button everything together, break it in, throw the sheet metal back on and enjoy that car. The funny thing with that car is that I bought it my HS senior year 2005, drove it that summer (daily driver) and then sometime in the fall I had engine failure. Luckily I had just bought my 9C1 for a winter car. At that point in my life I had very limited automobile repair experience, I could only general maintenance like brakes, fluid changes... easy stuff. So I was pretty disappointed and didn't know what to do. So I let my crazy personality take over and I started just ripping the car apart and try to figure out this machine, learn how it worked and one thing lead to another and pretty soon the car was down to bare bones from the firewall forward... now what?? From there I picked up on restoration, got a job at a Rolls Royce specialty garage that had a total of 2 people, two old guys, the owner and his mechanic, this was dreamland for me... old Cadillacs and Rolls-Royces everywhere and any tool in existence (seriously). From that I learned the methods and tricks of auto-restoration and so I have been slowly restoring my '68 ever since.

I can't even remember what my '68 drove like and I did not have nearly as much appreciation for Cadillacs as I do now, so getting that car going again will be quite the experience but at this point I cannot even fathom the experience... I will probably be the happiest man on earth when I roll that car out of my garage for its maiden voyage.

So my primary goals right now are to hope for a non-rainy day to get the FWB do a little maintenance on her and then put the Caprice away for the season. The other primary goal is to get the '68 done before June and get her broken in. My long term goals for the Summer season is to complete the Bio-Diesel lab and then get my Cummins 12-Valve 3500... once I get the truck I can sell the Caprice or gut the drivetrain and some other stuff then scrap the rest of her.

I have alot of things on my plate, but I love projects... as long as I keep school/career priority I think I should be alright... I am sorry for this long drawn out post that did not maintain a single topic but we are having some nice weather and I had some time to spare... I also realized I had never really shared my Caddy story as many of you have...

Have a great day everyone!!! :)

Old Fleetwood

04-13-08, 05:56 PM

I am CERTAINLY no expert on this stuff, but from what I've gleaned on this board, when you run the fuel tank dry with the pump being in the tank, you most likely have a fuel pump that will die in the very near future.
Worse, I understand it isn't a pleasant job :banghead:
Have you heard this?

MauiV

04-13-08, 06:19 PM

Man I feel lazy. I changed out rotors and pads and got the front clip of the V waxed and that was my weekend.

JTraik

04-13-08, 07:42 PM

I am CERTAINLY no expert on this stuff, but from what I've gleaned on this board, when you run the fuel tank dry with the pump being in the tank, you most likely have a fuel pump that will die in the very near future.
Worse, I understand it isn't a pleasant job :banghead:
Have you heard this?

I have heard that it is not ideal for a fuel pump to run dry, however I have had a tank baffle issue with my 9C1 ever since I have had it and the fuel pump has been starved countless times and I have run out of gas in it many times too, so far there has not been any issues. If it dies it dies...

I~LUV~Caddys8792

04-13-08, 07:49 PM

Cool story! I didn't know you bought Adam's 95 FWB.

My_favorite_Brougham

04-13-08, 11:15 PM

About that fuel pump issue, it only causes the pump to go bad with prolonged run-outs. You have to do it about 5 times for it to burn up. But also running it near-dry, like on the fumes, to the gas station is similarly hazardous. My dad's '05 Chevy needed a new fuel pump after continually running below 1/8 a tank and running out on occasion. The bill was $775. It just burned up, from having no fuel to suck.

So it pays to keep your tank full and add when you need to; it's just the same as if you always just get "enough." To the contrary, leaving gas in the car for prolonged times (ie. several years storage) will cause pump failure. But I think we love our Caddies enough that that won't happen.

Greg

nickc50310

04-14-08, 09:38 AM

Awesome story!

Now, my mom lives near Rochester. I am going to be out there this summer so you will have to meet me for lunch or something so i can check out the FWB!

You can race against my CTS if I bring it! :bouncy:

Brizzal

04-14-08, 10:59 AM

everyone loves a FWB

JTraik

04-14-08, 01:24 PM

Awesome story!

Now, my mom lives near Rochester. I am going to be out there this summer so you will have to meet me for lunch or something so i can check out the FWB!